Eight Tough Games Coming Up for Cajuns – From the Bird’s Nest

Early in the season, I talked about a seven game stretch that I believed would tell us a lot about the 2014 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. Three on the road against Southern MIssissippi. A mid-week game in Baton Rouge against LSU. And, three at home against Alabama.

We found out the Cajuns were pretty doggone good, going 6-1 in that seven game stretch.

Now, there are fourteen games remaining for the Cajuns in the 2014 Sun Belt regular season.

And, what happens in the next eight games will tell a big part of the story about the Cajuns' position on a national scale heading into the postseason.

Louisiana (37-5, 16-2 Sun Belt) is going to face teams that can pitch over the next ten days. And, all of the teams have winning records.

It starts this weekend with Texas State (23-18, 11-7). We previewed the Bobcats on our website yesterday (click here to see it.)

Next week the Cajuns will play Southeastern Louisiana twice. The game Tuesday in Hammond was on the original schedule. Wednesday's game at M. L. "Tigue" Moore Field
was to be played back on March 5th, but was postponed because of weather. The Lions (27-14, 12-6 Southland) is currently sitting in a three way tie for first place in a crazy Southland Conference, where eight teams are all within two games of one another. The Lions have pitched extremely well this year, sporting a 2.97 ERA entering the weekend. And, the Lions are much improved on offense as well.

Then it's on to Jonesboro for a series that could determine the conference champion.

The Red Wolves (24-17, 13-5),were picked to finish seventh in the league, but sit just three games behind the Cajuns entering this weekend. They are in Atlanta this weekend to take on ninth place Georgia State. There's nothing about the offense that is eye popping, but they've played consistently all year. Eight of he top nine pitchers all have an ERA under 4.00 and they're an outstanding club defensively. They'll have an advantage at Tomlinson Stadium, where, this time of year, the wind blows in from center. And, it's ALWAYS blowing.

Eight games. Six of them against the second and third place teams in the league. And, two games against the Cajuns toughest mid-week opponent outside of LSU.